The Social Rules of Space

Does walking away from a dog convey dominance or submission? It depends. Space is one of the most important, and often overlooked aspects in dog behavior, and behavior modification. How to maneuver space in relation to a dog; to increase or decrease it, encroach or walk away, isn’t that simple. Here are a few tips.

If a dog wants to engage with me, but rudely invades the personal foot or so of air around me I have a right to own undisturbed, or jumps, I don’t walk away, step back or turn my back, cause then I would relinquish more space and that would be submission.
Encroaching into someone’s space uninvited is a sign of confidence and dominance. Retreat and surrender signals inferiority and that’s the last thing I want to communicate to a confident dog. (Please note that I am not talking about aggression and imminent attack here, but socially normal behavior.)
Instead, I walk into the dog’s space, with conviction but without force, so no kneeing in the chest, while withholding any form of attention – no talk, look or touch. Ignoring the dog is crucial cause for many dogs any attention is good attention and reinforces the rude behavior.
Walking into a dog’s space, not walking away, is the superior’s way to handle a space-impolite dog.
When he backs off, surrenders space and ideally gives subtle submissive signals – not fearful ones, just submissive, I invite him closer and we begin to engage.

A different story if a lower ranking dog solicits for attention. It is up to the superior to grant audience or not, and if the answer is no, he ignores and can simply walk away. Walking away in that case is a sign of superiority. Because the already submissive dog will solicit politely, and because I like dogs and want to engage, I never walk away when a dog asks permission to come close, but invite her in.

Dominance and submission in regards to space are not important when I work with a fearful dog, for example a shelter dog. My first step is to stay in visible vicinity as matter-of-factly as I can, so that the pooch can get used to my presence without feeling threatened. Reading a book sitting in, or close to, the dog’s run is great, cause that way the dog doesn’t feel watched. I gauge the space depending on the comfort level of the fearful dog.
Another option when working with a fearful dog is to offer something delicious several times a day without any strings attached. Trainer, author and lecturer C.W. Meisterfeld used liver sausage. A dog’s developing anticipatory excitement or happiness about my approaching is the first step to trust and a willingness to work.

Space is used as the primary reward in an Operant Conditioning technique geared to rehabilitate aggressive and reactive dogs. Increasing space (or decreasing) is contingent on the dog’s actions around a trigger – dominance and submission again are irrelevant.